time travel

Ken and I visited his Aunt C a couple of days ago.  I noticed some pictures on one of her tables after we returned from lunch and she started telling us about the people in the pictures.  We are always interested in our genealogy - searching and asking questions.
I found out some amazing information about Ken's grandmother H.  She was one woman who I always looked up to and admired.  When I became a part of Ken's family, her husband (a doctor) had already died in a car crash.  So she was living on her own in Red Bluff, CA - a very independent woman , financially, who seemed confident and in charge of everything, and very intelligent in my eyes.  Well, here was the shocker for me:  Aunt C told us she was sent to Oregon to live as a maid or servant when she was twelve years old by her step dad and mom.  She did not finish school.  The woman in the family she was living with showed her a hundred dollar bill after she had been there awhile and told her she would never have one herself.  I think Aunt C. said she left that family when she was around 17, made her way to San Francisco, faked her way into nursing school.  She then put herself through school and eventually earned her high school diploma when Aunt C was in college.  Apparently she was very embarrassed about this and did not share this with anyone.  So now you can see why I was flabbergasted.  Now, I admire her even more than I did before.  I am sharing this now so that we can learn from our history.  And especially as women, we can realize that we can accomplish whatever we put our mind and heart to.  I feel so proud of her and lucky to pass this down.